Athena Investment Management Purchases New Position in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI)

Athena Investment Management purchased a new stake in Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 8,818 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 0.7% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 215,737 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,766,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 12.5% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 124,665 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,754,000 after purchasing an additional 13,823 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Kinder Morgan by 100.1% in the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,277 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139 shares in the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 401.8% during the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 1,430 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,145 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR lifted its stake in shares of Kinder Morgan by 3.0% during the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 144,268 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,187,000 after acquiring an additional 4,253 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on KMI shares. Scotiabank began coverage on Kinder Morgan in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $26.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Kinder Morgan from $24.00 to $36.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kinder Morgan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.14.

Kinder Morgan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KMI opened at $27.09 on Friday. Kinder Morgan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.18 and a 52 week high of $31.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.19 billion, a PE ratio of 23.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $27.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.49.

Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The pipeline company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.01). Kinder Morgan had a net margin of 17.31% and a return on equity of 8.09%. Analysts predict that Kinder Morgan, Inc. will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinder Morgan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.2875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.25%. Kinder Morgan’s payout ratio is 98.29%.

Insider Transactions at Kinder Morgan

In other news, President Thomas A. Martin sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total transaction of $502,380.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 861,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,048,707.32. This trade represents a 2.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP John W. Schlosser sold 75,461 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.65, for a total value of $2,011,035.65. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 220,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,881,148.65. This trade represents a 25.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 129,461 shares of company stock worth $3,504,136. Company insiders own 12.64% of the company’s stock.

Kinder Morgan Profile

Kinder Morgan, Inc operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in North America. The company operates through Natural Gas Pipelines, Products Pipelines, Terminals, and CO2 segments. The Natural Gas Pipelines segment owns and operates interstate and intrastate natural gas pipeline, and storage systems; natural gas gathering systems and natural gas processing and treating facilities; natural gas liquids fractionation facilities and transportation systems; and liquefied natural gas gasification, liquefaction, and storage facilities.